N-W holding budget info sessions

The Niagara-Wheatfield School District is
holding budget information sessions at district elementary schools to explain
the budget process and seek input from community members.

One of the budget information meetings was
held March 7 at Errick Road Elementary. Meetings are set for 7 p.m. Tuesday,
March 19, at Colonial Village Elementary and Thursday, March 21, at West Street
Elementary.

The board already has decided that its
2013-14 budget will not exceed the state tax cap. The meetings will be open
forums at which residents can ask questions and make suggestions, Interim
Superintendent James Knowles said. Board members and either Knowles or the
business manager will be present.

"We're trying to give the people
information on where we are right now and why we are there, what things we
really don't have control over (mandates), and give ideas on how we are going
to close the gap," Knowles said.

Either more revenue or some cuts will be
necessary to stay under the tax cap, district officials agree.

"Like every place else, it's a challenging
situation," Knowles said of the budget process.

Much is still up in the air right now that
has to be settled in Albany.

Part of that is extra funding that the
governor would like to see used for universal pre-kindergarten, full-day
kindergarten or possibly a longer school day.

District
business manager Kerin Dumphrey said that to continue running the district as
it is now and still stay under the 2 percent tax cap, the district would need an
extra $1.4 million, even if voters are asked to approve the entire tax cap
amount.

In order not to exceed the tax cap, the
board would have to stay at 5.9 percent or less of the current tax levy of
$28,661,923, Dumphrey said. That would mean the most the tax levy could be
would be $30,355,843.

"We're still $1.4 million apart from what
we want and what we could afford," Dumphrey said. "There's still a lot of work
to be done."

The district had to try two times to get a
budget approved by voters last year. The revised $60.5 million budget was
finally passed on June 19, 2012, after the first budget, which would have
brought a 9.9 percent increase in the tax levy, was defeated on May 15, 2012.

Dumphrey will be retiring at the end of
this week. The district is contracting through the Niagara-Orleans BOCES for a
business manager, but may return to having its own in the future, Knowles said.

The next regular meeting of the
Niagara-Wheatfield Board of Education will be on Wednesday, March 20, at the
high school's adult learning center. Meetings generally begin with an executive
session at 6 p.m.

•The Board of Education also began the
first round of interviewing potential candidates for the position of
superintendent of schools this week, according to Knowles. From the initial
interviews, the board will choose candidates it will want to interview further.